Located just off Newberry Road, John Mahon Nature Park features a loop trail through the forest. Visitors can enjoy upland mixed forest, hydric hammock, and former upland pine forest as they hike the trail. The park serves as a memorial to Dr. John Mahon, who lived nearby, and who worked tirelessly to preserve large areas of Paynes

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The Hogtown Creek Headwaters Nature Park will soon be getting a facelift! Other improvements that will begin in 2015 and will include a nature trail, playground, pavilion, and a tennis/volleyball court. Please be aware that the park will be closed to visitors during construction and signage will be posted to this effect. If you have

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On the Hogtown Creek Greenway, get lost in the woods in the heart of old Gainesville while getting in touch with the past.  

Park hours from dawn to dusk daily. Gum Root Park features trails through a variety of natural communities, including blackwater stream, floodplain swamp, xeric hammock, baygall, pasture, and pine flatwoods. Adjacent to hundreds of acres of state conservation land, Gum Root is a great location for birding and wildlife viewing.

Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail stretches 16 miles from the city of Gainesville's Boulware Springs Park through the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and other local and state conservation lands. On this historic rail-bed turned greenway you will pass by native plants and wildlife, diverse scenery and backyard Florida culture. Overlooks and stops of interest tie together

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The nature trail is open as an out and back trail (not a loop) due to the trail bridge closure. Views into the sinkhole are still provided. Update: as upgrades to the trail bridge started, it was determined that more extensive safety improvements must be made. These needs were difficult to detect until the renovation began. Bids are

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In 1998, State Representative Cynthia Moore Chestnut sponsored a grant for a park to serve the residents of SE Alachua County.  Local businessman, Clark Butler, was called upon and he also donated funds. The park was opened to the public on April 27, 2010. The multi-purpose field can host soccer, softball or football games and

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In the heart of urbanized west Gainesville, Cofrin Nature Park features a half-mile long hiking trail. Once a horse farm, much of this park is returning to forest through natural succession. Large hardwood trees are found in the forest along picturesque Beville Heights Creek, and seepage wetlands on the slopes above the creek support lush growths of

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Newly opened to the public, this facility was bought with funds from the Florida Communities Trust and developed by the City of Gainesville Public Works Department with assistance from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Tucked away in East Gainesville's Duval neighborhood, this park features a 2-acre stormwater pond built in 2010 to help improve

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In the heart of urbanized west Gainesville, Cofrin Nature Park features a half-mile long hiking trail. Once a horse farm, much of this park is returning to forest through natural succession. Large hardwood trees are found in the forest along picturesque Beville Heights Creek, and seepage wetlands on the slopes above the creek support lush

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